When you see 5 or 6 green leaves on your early Turban garlic (maybe fewer on later varieties) and some withered leaves on the majority of your garlic it is a good time to look at some sample bulbs to see where they are up to.
If your bulbs are covered by a tight skin they are probably ready and won't get any bigger. If your bulbs are corrugated they are probably not ready.
If the weather got the better of you and suddenly all the leaves withered, then it is probably a good idea to harvest them before rain makes them rot.
If you planted deep then you may need to loosen your bulbs before pulling them up. Using a garden fork can be useful, but bulbs with holes from poorly aimed garden forks don't retain their value, so avoid holes in your bulbs. If you dropped your cloves onto the surface, you may be able to just pull them up.
Treat your garlic bulbs with respect: bruised garlic will not cure and store well. It is likely to develop mould in any abrasions.
Dirt is your enemy when trying to cure good clean bulbs. As you pull your garlic up it is a good idea to remove as much dirt as possible from the roots and bulbs. Some garlic growers remove most of the dirt as they pull up the bulbs, then leave the bulbs lying on the paddock for a while so that the dirt dries and falls off before the plants are transported to the cleaning process. Never wet or wash your bulbs.
Garlic bulbs come out of the ground with long straggly roots. Roots left on the bulb will be a means of moisture entering the bulb and rotting it during the curing process. Most garlic growers remove the roots, commonly by cutting them short with a pair of secateurs. A very definite method of ensuring no moisture enters the bulb through the roots is to cut them off from the basal plate completely (some varieties, like Dunganski have nice flat bottoms, which makes this easy, some Artichokes have droopy cloves which make it impossible to get to the basal plate without cutting the cloves). All root removal is best done within 24 hours of harvest: they get very hard very quickly. If you cut all the roots off then you have a clean basal plate, it is a good idea to give this a quick dab of white vinegar to discourage sooty mould developing during curing (a very light dab, otherwise you are just making them wet and encouraging mould).
Harvested bulbs with roots cut or removed, can be hung by the leaves to dry (cure). Some growers remove the outermost leaf (5th leaf). It can be pealed off to reveal a stunningly clean bulb before curing. We hang large bulbs in bunches of 10 and small bulbs in bunches of 20 -- this makes for easy counting. Some growers prefer to use racks. Some growers prefer to cut the leaves off before curing. The bulb will continue to grow and develop until the leaves are fully dry if they are left on.
Large bulbs cure slower than small bulbs, which is logical, so turban may cure in 4 weeks, but the very large turban bulbs can take 8 weeks. Large bulbs must be cured in a dry atmosphere or they will degrade.
Bulbs hung for about a week are ready for braiding, the braids are then hung for the rest of curing. Bulbs up to 60mm are used for braiding, usually not the very large bulbs -- a braid with very large bulbs would not look as neat as the smaller bulbs. Some people cure their garlic longer before braiding and use a spray of water to moisten the stems to make them pliable (careful, no water on the bulbs). Braiding is a good way of value adding. Garlic with good long hard necks are easier to braid.
Curing time depends on the variety: Artichokes can take 8 weeks to cure as does Dunganski.
If your bulbs are covered by a tight skin they are probably ready and won't get any bigger. If your bulbs are corrugated they are probably not ready.
If the weather got the better of you and suddenly all the leaves withered, then it is probably a good idea to harvest them before rain makes them rot.
If you planted deep then you may need to loosen your bulbs before pulling them up. Using a garden fork can be useful, but bulbs with holes from poorly aimed garden forks don't retain their value, so avoid holes in your bulbs. If you dropped your cloves onto the surface, you may be able to just pull them up.
Treat your garlic bulbs with respect: bruised garlic will not cure and store well. It is likely to develop mould in any abrasions.
Dirt is your enemy when trying to cure good clean bulbs. As you pull your garlic up it is a good idea to remove as much dirt as possible from the roots and bulbs. Some garlic growers remove most of the dirt as they pull up the bulbs, then leave the bulbs lying on the paddock for a while so that the dirt dries and falls off before the plants are transported to the cleaning process. Never wet or wash your bulbs.
Garlic bulbs come out of the ground with long straggly roots. Roots left on the bulb will be a means of moisture entering the bulb and rotting it during the curing process. Most garlic growers remove the roots, commonly by cutting them short with a pair of secateurs. A very definite method of ensuring no moisture enters the bulb through the roots is to cut them off from the basal plate completely (some varieties, like Dunganski have nice flat bottoms, which makes this easy, some Artichokes have droopy cloves which make it impossible to get to the basal plate without cutting the cloves). All root removal is best done within 24 hours of harvest: they get very hard very quickly. If you cut all the roots off then you have a clean basal plate, it is a good idea to give this a quick dab of white vinegar to discourage sooty mould developing during curing (a very light dab, otherwise you are just making them wet and encouraging mould).
Harvested bulbs with roots cut or removed, can be hung by the leaves to dry (cure). Some growers remove the outermost leaf (5th leaf). It can be pealed off to reveal a stunningly clean bulb before curing. We hang large bulbs in bunches of 10 and small bulbs in bunches of 20 -- this makes for easy counting. Some growers prefer to use racks. Some growers prefer to cut the leaves off before curing. The bulb will continue to grow and develop until the leaves are fully dry if they are left on.
Large bulbs cure slower than small bulbs, which is logical, so turban may cure in 4 weeks, but the very large turban bulbs can take 8 weeks. Large bulbs must be cured in a dry atmosphere or they will degrade.
Bulbs hung for about a week are ready for braiding, the braids are then hung for the rest of curing. Bulbs up to 60mm are used for braiding, usually not the very large bulbs -- a braid with very large bulbs would not look as neat as the smaller bulbs. Some people cure their garlic longer before braiding and use a spray of water to moisten the stems to make them pliable (careful, no water on the bulbs). Braiding is a good way of value adding. Garlic with good long hard necks are easier to braid.
Curing time depends on the variety: Artichokes can take 8 weeks to cure as does Dunganski.
Your next step is CURING and STORING